Wednesday, June 20, 2018

I feel it’s important to try and write things down and share
experiences on these great adventures.In many ways the journey of a 100 mile race becomes a transcendental and
surreal dream-scape.Like my nightly
dreams, the raw experience of the race gradually fades away with my gradual
return to everyday life.Capturing a
little bit of the experience here hopefully preserves some of my memories,
provides insights to my friends and family, and also maybe helps a future
runner of this and other races.

The Journey

The Mohican 100 is in Southeastern Ohio at the Mohican State
Park.With family logistics being cheaper
and easier with 1 traveling vs. 4, it was decided some time ago that I would
venture out on this trip solo.I stayed
at the Mohican Adventures campground in the meadows.I didn’t realize it at reservation time, but
the race runs right by there (tip: ask for a campground close to the showers).This made
packing my drop bags much easier as I knew I could stop at my car if something
unusual came up during the race.I met
some great folks from all over who were all there for the race.Mixed in with the regular family Father’s Day
camping crowd, it was quite the scene.My favorite part of the campground was it coming to life around 3:30am
as everyone was prepping for the long day ahead.

The Training

If you judge training only by the miles you put in; the
number of marathon distance training runs; and/or the back to backs you do
every weekend; then this training cycle was pretty terrible.After the Umstead 100 in April, I took some
planned time off.After that I ended up
with a nasty cold that kept me from training for at least a solid week.This was quickly followed by a freak turf-toe
injury.Eventually I had to start running
again.I kept up with my cross training,
and ran where I could and tried to stay patient and let the fitness come back.Eventually I managed a 20 and a 30 mile run; and maybe 150 miles total in two and a half months. Nothing near what I’d like to have heading into a race like Mohican.

On the other side of the coin, if you define training as the
process that puts you in the best position to complete your goal – I feel like
my training was very successful.Had I simply
tried to plow through these obstacles, I risked putting myself in a position
where I might find it challenging to even make it to the starting line, much
less be considering a finish.

The Course and Race

Having never run at Mohican State Park before, I had no real
plan of attack put together.I had no
idea how the terrain would roll together and what to expect mile to mile.This was actually a welcome adventure as my
last race was my hometown race where I knew the course like the back of my
hand.At Mohican, I simply set out to
take what the course gave me and enjoy the cool temperatures while they
lasted.I finished the first lap in a
little more than 6 hours and could feel the heat of the day coming on as well
as my lack of training in my legs.The
first seeds of doubt.

The heat bearing down at the start of lap 2

The start of the second lap I was a little grumpy (right
where you should be for 27 miles!) but decided to simply take it easy for the climbs
up to the first aid station.The
strategy worked and I felt strong for the next section to the fire tower.At fire tower I took my first of many, many
glorious sponge baths.The heat and
humidity were kicking.From hear on out
the goal became heart rate management and managing core body temperature.I’m somewhat used to the heat being from
North Carolina.What heat acclimation has
taught me more than anything else is to respect it, walk as necessary, and be
patient. Especially with being undertrained
I knew patience, respect, and humility were going to be the only paths to a successful
finish.

Photo Credit: Bruce Phillips Photography

Leaning in to the climb

The Dark Place

The darkest moments of the race for me came at about mile
50.On the long descent from Hickory
Ridge I smashed the hell of my foot.I
kicked a root so hard I yelled out a loud F_____K!The kind you save for when it really really
hurts.I managed to stay upright and kept
moving to “run it off”.The adrenaline
wore off pretty quickly and my toes were telling me they were hurt.My mind raced with the possibilities, are
they broken?Will I have to drop? Is my
foot bleeding?Maybe I just smashed my nail?If I dropped, would I being weak?Maybe I should give up running entirely?That kind of self-questioning and self-examination
went on for the last four miles as I walked most of the way in to the aid
station.Being solo, I didn’t have any
crew to pick cheer me up at the aid station so I called home and got a nice
pick me up from my wife.

At the aid station, I grabbed a slice of pizza and sat down
with the podiatrist group from Kent State.We took of the shoe, and there was no blood to be seen (positive).We took off the compression sock (always fun
at 54 miles) and all the toenails were there (yay!).After some bending and pressure tests she declared
nothing broken, only to expect some bruising, and that if I could handle the
pain I could go on with the race.Best.News.Ever!She buddy taped the toes and
off I went for lap 3.All in all I took
a half hour at this stop, but it was necessary and I could feel recharged from
the rest.

The Night

It never cooled off at night.Yes, the temperature dropped, but it was
still in the 70's with high humidity for most of the night.I was still climbing great at this point.The quads and the downhills were
progressively becoming more and more iffy.I just kept doing what I was doing keeping my effort level in check and using
Ice, Icees, sponge baths, and ice chips wherever I could to keep myself cool
and not over-exert myself.

One of the fun parts about the night time is that you start
to notice the wildlife around you in an entirely different light.My favorite scene was the first climb on the
way towards Firetower.The forest floor
is covered with ferns that are three and four feet high.What made this particular section spectacular
were thousands and thousands of fireflies lighting up amongst the ferns in the
night hours.It seemed like it was
straight out of a Thomas Kinkade painting.The other fun encounter is when I came upon three younger raccoons on
the trail and had a bit of a stare down.My headlamp lit up these massive eyes that just stared back at me – not quite
sure what to make out of the guy at 2 in the morning running down the trail.

Trail Angels are Real

Coming into the end of the third lap and start of the fourth
and final lap, I determinedly ran a quick and efficient run through the aid
station.I was ready to get moving on finishing.As I’m about 200 meters out of the aid
station -giving wide berth to a skunk scavenging someone’s supplies – I hear a
voice running to catch me.“Are you
running alone?Do you want a pacer?”“Yes, Yes I do want a pacer”Insert Megan from Cincinnati who saved my
race.Sometime around the 24 hour mark I
became almost uncontrollably drowsy.My
body just wanted to crash.Simply having
a pacer watching over me for that hour period kept me moving.As it was, I barely felt like I could keep
moving.Had I been alone, I almost
certainly would have been sitting on a log, catching some z’s…and who knows
what would have happened at that point.Megan accompanied me all the way to Covered Bridge (mile 89).With the sun up and some coffee in my system
I was rejuvenated to finish the last 2 sections to the finish.

Photo Credit: Bruce Phillips Photography

Finish and Aftermath.

I ended up finishing in 30:25:52. There were 188 starters,
91 finishers, and I finished 61st out of those 91 finishers.The goal for this race was simply to finish,
earn my WSER ticket and points; and take the hot summer off.I’m learning quickly that for 100 mile events
it only takes 1 or 2 variables to make or break your day.Given the training I put in (or didn’t put in
more precisely), I was lucky to keep things in front of me the whole day.But that may also have saved me.I didn’t have any illusions of grandeur about
personal performance.

Photo Credit: Bruce Phillips Photography

Getting some foot care post race.

A final footnote and shout out to the community and ultra
folks taking care of each other.As I
recombobulated in the finish line aid station, it dawned on me that after being
up for 35 hours I was in no shape to drive myself to Columbus for my flight
home.Enter Travis (who ended up being
an old friend from Canyon’s 2017), Drew, and Irene who put together a plan to drive
me and my car to Travis’s house, and eventually to the airport.Thanks guys, you totally made Father’s Day
still happen for me!